Born in Nova Scotia in 1892, John Augustus Larson became interested in forensic science and went on to receive his Ph.D. in physiology at the University of California, Berkeley around 1919. That same year he also became a Berkeley police officer. A native of County Longford, Ireland, Patrick Heslin was born in 1863. He would go on to become a Catholic priest and eventually serve as pastor of Holy Angels Church in Colma. Born in Texas in 1880, William A. Hightower headed out West and learned to cook at various roadside restaurants. He eventually became an accomplished baker. On Aug. 17, 1921, the names of all three men shared in the same "San Francisco Call and Post" front page exclusive, subtitled — "Psychological Test In Jail At Midnight Bares Hidden Mind." Their story began on the evening of Aug. 2, 1921, with a knock on the rectory door of Holy Angels in Colma. The air was thick with fog, but still, the housekeeper and a neighbor were able to see clearly enough to later recall that the man knocking was odd, suspicious even, hidden beneath a heavy overcoat, goggles and a pulled up collar which concealed his face. Father Heslin opened the door. He listened while the stranger spoke of an ailing friend in Salada Beach — present-day Pacifica — a man in need of the last rites. The cleric gathered a "red Morocco case containing the bread and wine of the Blessed Sacrament," and hastily climbed into the front seat of the stranger's touring car. Father Heslin never returned.

Advertisement

On Aug. 3, San Francisco Archbishop Edward J. Hanna received a ransom note demanding $6,500 in exchange for the priest. No money drop was mentioned, but the note hinted that the kidnapped priest might be located in a cave. The ransom amount was posted in the paper as a reward. Police and armed vigilantes combed the area — from hills, to beaches, to residential areas. When a second ransom note arrived, demanding more money, there was still no mention of a drop nor was there any news on the whereabouts of Father Heslin. By then, handwriting experts had concluded that the ransom notes were written "by a man of unbalanced mentality."

On Aug. 10, 1921, William Hightower arrived at the home of Archbishop Hanna. He had something important to tell him but the Archbishop was in a conference. Hightower then told his story to a newspaper man who in turn, brought in the police.

Hightower's story was two stories. The first was that a woman, Dolly Mason, had told Hightower that some guy shot some other guy, and then buried the victim in the sand at a popular swimming spot in Salada Beach, beneath an advertisement for Albers Milling Company which featured, a miner cooking flapjacks over an open fire. The second story, told to Hightower, supposedly by the same woman, or possibly two women, was that right around that same spot, bootleg whiskey was buried. Hightower went to the location in question, hoping to uncover the liquor and sell it on the open market. But he never found that liquor. Instead, with a little digging, he discovered a black prayer scarf which he suspected belonged to the missing priest.

He marked that spot with the scarf and dug no further. He set off to report what he knew and hopefully collect the reward. He was, he explained, a businessman down on his luck.

Accompanied by a very suspicious San Francisco Police Chief Daniel O'Brien, and a number of equally suspicious detectives and several reporters, Hightower brought his companions to the area in question. "Over here boys," Hightower was noted to have called enthusiastically to his gathering.

Hightower began digging with gusto. As the out-of-work baker had claimed that he had no knowledge of how the victim was buried in the sand, or if in fact it was absolutely the priest, the police advised him to dig carefully, because he might strike the buried man's face with a shovel. Hightower told them not to worry as he was digging near the priest's feet. Hightower was arrested and the body of Father Heslin was recovered. The Colma priest had been shot twice, once through the heart and once in the skull.

This all happened right during the time that John Augustus Larson, had perfected William Moulton Marston's "Detect Deception" apparatus, which monitored an individual's blood pressure as an aid in uncovering the honesty of their statements. Larson's invention additionally monitored respiration, the pulse, and skin conductivity to make the results more reliable. Larson called his machine the "cardio-pneumo psychogram," but it is more commonly known as the polygraph, and was immediately christened by the press as the lie detector.

The "San Francisco Call and Post" arranged for Larson to use his invention on Hightower. It would be the lie detector's first case. On the morning of August 17, 1921, the "Call and Post" banner headline read — "Science Indicates Hightower's Guilt." Police work uncovered the .45-caliber pistol used to kill Father Heslin. They also found the typewriter used to type the ransom notes in Hightower's room at the Larne Hotel in San Francisco, along with a piece of bloody burlap and sand consistent with that of the burial site. Hightower was convicted after a short trial, and despite public outcry for his execution, the baker was sent to San Quentin for life, where he became a master chef specializing in pastries. In all his years there, he never spoke of the priest, and no motive was ever ascertained. He was paroled in 1965 at the age of 86.

As the inventor of the lie detector, Larson left the Berkeley Police Department in 1923 and went to work in Chicago as a criminologist with the Illinois Department of Public Welfare. His career additionally included working with prominent criminologist Herman Adler, teaching at the University of Iowa, and working as the Chief Psychiatrist for the Illinois State Prison Department. He died in October of 1965.

Newspapers reported that Father Patrick Heslin was a man of striking personality, who stood 5 foot 11 and was beloved by all he met. He is buried in the Priest Plot of Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, 1500 Mission Road, Colma, (Priest Plot-B-4-3).